Donating Money

[ricdsm]

In our culture we give a lot of money to needs but see very little real benefit.  In fact, sometimes our generosity actually adds to the bigger problem.  I do give a big part of my income but I try really hard to know where it is going, the impact it is having, and the administrative costs.

[countrygirl12]

I knew the guy.  He also went to church there.  He had a job and he did not and does not do charity work.
He just needed a lawn mower.  So did I. lol.  I don't know.  I just don't consider a lawn mower to be a REAL NEED when there are people who can't pay their mortgage or their electric bill and they are trying.

Based on this additional information, I too would not have considered this request a "need".  The situation hypothesized I would have considered a "need", but your additional information on the situation seems to show he's using his church connections to get something extra.  Guess this is just one of those "live and learn" situations.

The churches I've attended in the past would fully disclose what a special offering was going toward, so I never had to deal with the above issue.  Based on your second post, about not trusting the church's leadership, seems like you might want to start thinking about finding a new church.  If you can't trust them to be open about matters like these, how can you trust them with whatever they are preaching regarding your soul?  Just a thought...

I know people who bum money all the time and make way more than the people they are begging from.

No kidding here.  I don't know anyone personally, but I recalled several local news stories about how our city is cracking down on panhandlers begging at off ramps (there's a city law preventing begging at off ramps).  The reporters interviewed some people who did this and it turned out several are people with good paying office jobs, that after work would dress down and beg for a few hours a day.  One reported he raked in $150,000 in one year from begging alone.  Unreal!

I don't go to church there any longer.  Most times it wasn't a secret.  The told before hand who it was for and what it was for.  I guess they knew if they told what it was for they knew they wouldn't get much.

As far as panhandling our police don't do anything.  There are as many as 4 to 6 in Walmart's parking lot every time you go there.  I have also seen where news crews interviewed these people and most of them have admitted they take the money and buy beer.  And most have admitted they make a pretty good living doing it and the one guy said as he was laughing no he didn't feel bad about lying to people by saying he was homeless.  He isn't.  Has a pretty good place to live.  Smh.  It's no wonder nobody wants to help anybody else these days.